Circle launches Arc mainnet with USDC as native gas token

USDC issuer Circle has launched the mainnet of Arc, a layer-1 (L1) blockchain targeting stablecoin payments and financial markets, particularly agentic transactions.Arc uses USDC as its native gas asset and offers Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility and deterministic sub-second settlement finality, according to an Arc blog post on Wednesday.The network supports more than 20 fiat stablecoins, including USDC, EURC, JPYC, KRW1 and TRYB, while tokenized assets including BlackRock’s BUIDL and Circle’s USYC are available natively on Arc. Arc also offers interoperability with more than 20 blockchains through Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) and Gateway.CEO Jeremy Allaire called Arc “the single most significant launch in Circle’s history since USDC itself.” Separately, Circle said in a post on X that Arc was built for “programmable money, global markets, and agentic economic activity,” describing the network as stablecoin-native infrastructure for developers and institutions.The launch follows Arc’s public testnet debut in October 2025, when Circle said more than 100 companies were participating, including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Mastercard and Visa.Circle said in A...